The 7th PC

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Last Updated: Friday, January 17, 2014

Quick Specs
Case Type:	AT/ATX [stated as such because there are switchable templates for the case]
Motherboard Brand, Make, Model, Revision, Type:	A-Trend ATC-6240M R03 ATX Motherboard (Original) DFI-Itox GCB60-BX RevB ATX Motherboard (Current)
BIOS Type, Release/Version (Original, Upgrade/Today):	Award: v1.1.07 [1999/05/25], v1.1.08 [1999/12/08]
CPU Brand, Make, Model, Speed:	Intel Pentium II 400MHz
RAM [Original, Upgrade, Current]:	64MB, 448MB, 512MB
Hard Drive Capacity [Original, Additions, Current]:	One 8.4GB Internal, One 8.4GB and One 1GB internals, One 4.3GB and One 8.4GB internals, Two 40GB Notebook Internals, One 40GB and One 80GB internals [Desktop drives]
Optical Drive [Original, Current]:	Sony CDU5211 CD-ROM Drive, AOpen 52X CD-ROM Drive and Matshita UJDA760 DVD/CD-RW Notebook Drive, AOpen 52X CD-ROM Drive
Chipset:	Intel i440BX
Video Spec [Original, Replacements, Current]:	ATI Rage IIC 8MB VRAM AGP Video Card (Original) S3 Trio 64V+ PCI Video Card, nVidia GeForce 3 Ti-200 64MB SDRAM AGP Video Card, ATI Rage 128 Pro Ultra 16MB AGP Video Card nVidia GeForce FX 5900 XT (Current)
Sound Spec [Original, Addition, Current]:	None (Seriously!) (Original) Sound Blaster Vibra 16X CT4170 ISA Sound Card, Sound Blaster Vibra 16XV CT4170 ISA Sound Card and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 5.1 PCI Sound Card Sound Blaster CT4170 (Current)
Operating System [Original, Reinstall, Current]:	Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Quad-boot [Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000]
Monitor Spec [Original, Current]:	Dell 15" CRT Monitor, AOC Spectrum 9G 18" Monitor
Date Obtained:	May 11?, 2005

An addition for the already growing collection in 2005, this computer had been converted into yet another gaming computer until around late 2006. It had suffered the bad capacitor plague, and was the only motherboard in my possession to have done so as of late.

History

2005: May. Dad has returned home with a computer. This computer was a custom-built one, like Cyrix was. Upon running it for the first time, it was realized that: it had no sound card, and the video drivers were not installed. I knew no better on the video card, but that's how I ran into the S3 Trio 64V PCI video card pairs. One of them was installed in the 7th, and a Sound Blaster ISA sound card was installed. Some time later, we realized we couldn't play CD music on the computer. No analog cable was present, so one was installed, until that went dead, and that one was replaced.
2006: Most likely July. Someone was unwisely deleting files from the System directory, and the operating system had to be reinstalled. More like, back up important files, format, and install Windows 98 Second Edition in its place. That was because Windows didn't let you upgrade with the retail disc. That was successful. Some time later, a brownout occured (and the only one we had, too!), and every computer that we had lived through it... except 7th. It restarted when it happened, and it hadn't been the same since. It turned on by itself at around 3 AM (two occasions), and it restarted at random, even when it was on Windows. BSODs happened as well, but oddly, that was less common than the restarts. Time to shut it down.
2007: Got replacement power supplies, among other things. Nothing doing.
2008: Attempted to get it working again, not knowing the true issue. Motherboard was placed into the junk pile.
2009: Same as 2008. Left motherboard in its case.
2010: Mid-August. An unlikely search of reviving graphics cards led to bad capacitors on graphics cards, which lead to Badcaps.net, a site regarding bad capacitors. Upon seeing the motherboards with bad caps, I quickly looked at the motherboard. Sure enough, there were some. They were lining the CPU slot, nine of them. They were replaced ASAP, and that was it. On September 5, the quad-boot experiment was successful. It is used almost every day.
2011: January. Put aside for the Cyrix2 Project.
2012: April. The notebook drives were replaced with full desktop drives: a 40GB Seagate and an 80GB Western Digital. Also, August. Video card was replaced. Also, December. Plans to replace the 40GB drive with a newly obtained 80GB drive have happened. The old A-trend ATC-6420M motherboard has been retired Christmas Eve 2012 (2012/12/24) and upgraded to the DFI-Itox CB60-BX motherboard, making this The 7th PC v2.
2013: February. System setup is finally installed. Also, June. Removed Santa Cruz Sound Card due to instability at the time. Also, July. Network card made Win98FE unstable and needed to be replaced. It was replaced a day later.
2014: January. Replaced 16MB ATI Rage 128 Pro Ultra with a nVidia GeForce 5900 XT.

Documents and/or Notes?
Yes! Here:

The 7th PC Revival of 2010 - Short Document, listed early and updated specs. Livejournal entry.
Untitled Document - Another retelling of the revival, dated September 7, 2010. This was possibly something planned for my first post on the Badcaps.net forums.

Photos?
No...

Downloads?
Yes! Here:

A-trend ATC-6240 for old board
DFI-Itox GCB60-BX for current board

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